Part six of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. Our previous step in this history looked at the place of the industrial revolution in Leeds, noting in particular the growth in…
Category: Leeds History
Youngmans Restaurant
Youngmans Restaurant features as stop five in the Edible Leeds trail. Librarian Helen Skilbeck takes a closer look at the history of the restaurant and the family behind the name. Gerald Priestland famously called Leeds “the intellectual capital of fish and chips” – and he had a point, with the town’s love of the dish…
We Smile: Photographs of Modernity
This week Librarian Antony Ramm offers a sequel to an article first published in 2017. Readers of this blog who are also readers of the Public Domain Review website (if you’re not, do think about subscribing; it’s a fantastic and always-intriguing look at long-forgotten printed texts) may have seen a short article by Hunter Dukes…
Leeds & the Craft Beer Revolution
As part of our ongoing series of longer articles exploring stops on our Edible Leeds heritage Trail, Librarian Antony Ramm takes a look this week at the 20-year history of craft beer in Leeds… Leeds, of course, has a long and venerable history when it comes to brewing, stretching back to at least the brewery…
A Brief History of Leeds #5: The Industrial Revolution
The fifth part of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. Part four of this series finished with a suggestion that the writings of 18th-century Leeds antiquaries such as Thomas Wilson and…
The Leeds Arts Club
This week we hear from Library and Digital Assistant Ruairí Lewis who talks us through the fascinating history of the Leeds Arts Club through library stock and collections… Among our local history collections are a few volumes on the history of the Leeds Arts Club, and its fascinating founder, Alfred Orage. Very little has been…
Two Extraordinary Banquets
This week on the Secret Library, Librarian Antony Ramm briefly explores the stories behind two quite amazing political banquets in 19th-century Leeds. These both form entries on our Edible Leeds heritage trail, designed for Heritage Open Day Week 2021. In this short tale of two extraordinary political banquets, we start with the most well-known: the…
A Brief History of Leeds #4: The 18th-century
Part four of a series exploring the history of Leeds, using books and other stock resources held in the Leeds Libraries collections. For all the entries in this series, see our dedicated page. We left our brief look at the 17th-century with a reference to Ralph Thoresby’s place in an impressive national and international network…
The Secret Library | Leeds Libraries Heritage Blog 